In the minds of many Hong Kong people, drinking tea means little more than going to a dim sum restaurant and ordering a pot of pu’er to wash down all the bite-sized delicacies. But with the recent arrivals of tea rooms dedicated to the appreciation of the beverage, our taste buds are opened to a beautiful new world.
The following five tea specialists are boiling hot.
The following five tea specialists are boiling hot.
(Photo courtesy of Six Senses Lifestyle.)
Six Senses Lifestyle
Beyond the five senses we know very well, the name of this shop also points to a sixth sense innate to us: the soul. Through the alliance of tea, fragrance and flower arrangement, Six Senses Lifestyle aims for the balance of our six senses to achieve joy. They offer an international lineup of teas for selection, from organic Darjeeling to Taiwanese high mountain oolong to Japanese Uji matcha. The Darjeeling black tea is picked in spring and wilted naturally, with the tea liquid appearing pale yellow and tasting aromatic and sweet. There are more related products for sale, including pesticide-free tea leaves, artisanal essential oils, tea-making equipment and even tea-flavored perfumes. The shop is centrally located on King’s Road, Tin Hau, great for a visit at leisure to discover new tea wisdoms.
(Photo courtesy of Yú Teahouse.)
Yú Teahouse
Located in Fo Tan’s Au Pui Wan Street, the ambience of Yú Teahouse feels like a breath of fresh air, with minimalist design, white walls, soft lighting and primarily wooden furniture. Here, the shop owner articulates the complex tea culture in an understandable way and puts her tea leaves in small bottles, allowing patrons to smell them before making a decision. As such, novice tea drinkers can feel more at ease. The teahouse serves more than 10 types of tea such as tieguanyin, dragon’s well and white peony, but pu’er is the selling point here. Mandarin peel pu’er is a highly recommended choice—the ripe pu’er leaves from aged trees are first stuffed in a green mandarin and then brewed. The strength of the tea is mellowed out by the zesty, sweet mandarin peel. It’s a great new experience.
(Photo courtesy of Tea Together.)
Tea Together
The joint standing on Prince Edward Road West in the Mong Kok district is owned by someone with China’s national qualifications in tea art and tea appraisal. The teahouse is further divided into contemporary and Japanese tea rooms with different designs, but both arranged with comfort in mind.
The teas come from a mix of Chinese provinces: Shandong Laoshan green tea, Anhui yellow tea, phoenix oolong tea from Teochew, Hubei red tea, Yunnan pu’er and more. All of them are picked and appraised by the shop owner personally. The highlight for us is the dong ding oolong tea. It goes through a special anaerobic process during fermentation, which makes it more effective in lowering blood pressure.
(Photo courtesy of House of Life Teahouse.)
House of Life Teahouse
The teahouse owner carved out a mind-cleansing space from a bustling industrial building on Tsun Yip Street, Kwun Tong. It has a terrace with Japanese tatami, pine wood chairs and tables, lots of Buddhist statues and floral decorations, taking visitors right to the realm of Zen.
And the teas are all boutique selections. Here, you'll find Wuyi tea, tieguanyin and oolong, but the main focus of the shop is pu’er, with about 10 varieties all coming from the Yunnan Province. Among these, raw pu’er is its speciality, which tastes different from the ripe pu’er served at dim sum restaurants. Mengku Snow Mountain wild aged tree pu’er is also recommended; the tea liquid is amber and clear and the aftertaste, sharp and long. The teahouse also organizes tea tastings frequently to brew premium and rare teas. Light snacks and salads are also served to pair with the drinks.
(Photo courtesy of Flamingo Bloom.)
Flamingo Bloom
With vibrant flamingo motifs decked all over the walls, and tea makers working at the open bar just like any mixologist would from the surrounding cocktail spots, this bubble tea shop, with branches in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, surely intends to make tea drinking cool. Clients are given great liberty to assemble their own beverage. First, they choose the tea base among Taiwanese oolong, Fujian jasmine, Yunnan chrysanthemum pu'er and Sichuan moth orchid red tea. The shop uses whole tea leaves and eschews any aromatic additives. A new batch of tea base is made every four hours to maintain the clean tea flavor. The pairing ingredients include fresh fruits, milk, tapioca pearls and more. Also up for selection is the amount of sugar and temperature (cold or hot).
This article was written by Joe Chan and translated by Vincent Leung. Click here to read the original version of this story.
